SparkFun Electronics Commentsurn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f82492015-03-03T17:20:08-07:00SparkFun ElectronicsCillakin on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCillakinurn:uuid:396afe98-dd15-05e4-7788-73a32ed51f7e2013-09-30T21:00:35-06:00<p>The best microcontroller on the market. Bar none. After having this I cannot ever justify or see myself going back to a PIC or ATmel chip. Oh and the OBEX is amazing.</p>Propeller Loyalist on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutPropeller Loyalisturn:uuid:60baabf7-0c58-0a34-38e9-e2c853b9e2b42013-08-01T10:00:15-06:00<p>Not that I am trying to funnel sales away from sparkfun but if you go to parralax&rsquo;s website you can get a propeller for 7.99, and eeprom for a couple bucks.</p>BloodyCactus on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutBloodyCactusurn:uuid:4cda4222-11f4-029f-62e3-3eaf33b61ae32013-04-29T19:18:06-06:00<p>note, if your using the propstick, you need to apply 5v+ to the VCC pin, not 3.3v to the 3.3v pin just below it. anything under 5 on the top left VCC pin will not power the board on enough for the propstick to recognise it (PWR led comes on but propstick will not see it. Must have 5v+ on VCC pin).</p>ddegn on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A Breakoutddegnurn:uuid:1470ca33-1a60-aa72-d34a-ea8a8710e0732013-02-08T09:25:07-07:00<p>I haven&rsquo;t seen the lack of decoupling caps mentioned anywhere in these comments. The Propeller should really have decoupling caps next to each set of Vcc pins (four in this case).
Look at Cluso99&rsquo;s design (he has posted in these comments) to see how decoupling should be done.
I can&rsquo;t tell if there is a power copper pour on the top layer or not. If there is, it could help with the decoupling problem.
I agree with others, it&rsquo;s great to see a Propeller board made and sold by SparkFun. I also agree this seems kind of over priced.
BTW, anyone intersted in learning to program the Propeller should check out Parallax&rsquo;s Propeller forum. It&rsquo;s a friendly place and they go easy on noobs.</p>AngusP on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutAngusPurn:uuid:fa9213fc-306d-bcc5-4221-abe3db65c23e2013-01-23T03:23:32-07:00<p>Race conditions, here we come! ;-P</p>Sam_Bamboo on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutSam_Bamboourn:uuid:ae6b76cf-8950-61eb-c1ab-f87da26e507c2013-01-20T21:04:11-07:00<p>Those are great!</p>Roy Eltham on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutRoy Elthamurn:uuid:755fd04e-e045-d277-e7ba-e9ecef6d56032013-01-19T16:10:29-07:00<p>It&rsquo;s an I2C EEPROM. The description is wrong. The schematic link shows it as an EEPROM. Also, it&rsquo;s most likely 64Kbytes (512Kbits).</p>Roy Eltham on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutRoy Elthamurn:uuid:19a20e67-5dea-a87f-aee8-7be5f19a42c92013-01-19T16:06:15-07:00<p>Awesome that you guys have a Propeller board. Finally! I love the Prop. I&rsquo;m getting one of these from you just to support you guys having it! Okay, not just because of that, but also because it looks like a nice design, and will be handy. Do more Prop stuff!! :)</p>Customer #146957 on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCustomer #146957urn:uuid:7a1ca56f-782a-a9a9-c5a3-d5c2de4450cb2013-01-18T17:02:38-07:00<p>Wow, that&rsquo;s a lot of UARTS, awsome!!!</p>The Doctor Doge on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutThe Doctor Dogeurn:uuid:f17922a1-4518-a480-9b62-f360673bcae02013-01-18T16:48:40-07:00<p>Apparently it&rsquo;s flash rom, not EEPROM.</p>Cluso99 on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCluso99urn:uuid:1b568823-a4bd-eb24-7fe1-86f0d597e6112013-01-18T15:59:59-07:00<p>I designed my CpuBlade 1"x1" P8X32A board way back in 2011 - it is still available for US$17.50 +$4pp (see http://clusos.com/home/1952.html ).
As well as all the above, it has an onboard 3V3 regulator (from 5V, max 6V DC input), and the transistor circuit (for the PropPlug download so you can use a cheap FT232 board or equivalent) to program the EEPROM. The xtal is socketed and can be overclocked to 6.5MHz (104MHz). 5MHz, 6MHz or 6.5MHz can be provided.</p>Circuitsoft on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCircuitsofturn:uuid:8049ae51-b2a7-26e9-4755-a619b8f25b982013-01-18T14:15:16-07:00<p>There is one OBEX object that&rsquo;s a 4xUART that takes one Cog, so if you don&rsquo;t have too much application logic, you could load your prop up with 16 UARTs (could do more, but that&rsquo;s all the pins will support) in 4 COGs.</p>MichaelShimniok on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutMichaelShimniokurn:uuid:6cf2d7b5-3622-b045-6a66-5520c29c51852013-01-18T13:17:51-07:00<p>Well, clearly great minds think alike! :D I like that yours is a very pure breakout. Mine adds some stuff that I wanted for my own convenience. Yeah, I suppose there&rsquo;s only so many ways to implement this, after all. Anyway, glad SFE is doing this. I&rsquo;d love to see more people enjoy the Propeller as I have. Take it easy. :)</p>a1ronzo on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A Breakouta1ronzourn:uuid:987c73a7-614f-152c-56ad-0d171a1c9f862013-01-18T12:48:33-07:00<p>Wow, that is really similar, but I can honestly say I did not see your board before I made this one. I guess this is a very general design, you can&rsquo;t go many other ways if you want this in a breadboard.</p>MichaelShimniok on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutMichaelShimniokurn:uuid:c6a0fd6b-7af7-31cb-4729-0ec40f6d136b2013-01-18T11:58:28-07:00<p>Propellers use software peripherals so you can have loads of UARTs (or I2C, SPI, or whatever else) on whatever pins you want. But, two of the pins are used for serial programming and are connected to the Sparkfun FTDI and Prop Plug headers.</p>MichaelShimniok on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutMichaelShimniokurn:uuid:4a2fe324-aa2a-903d-5077-f35881d4f0032013-01-18T11:57:16-07:00<p>[ edit: Decided to remove my post hawking my own design. That was tacky of me. Sorry. :( ]</p>
<p>Looks like they based this on one of my earlier designs. I&rsquo;m flattered and encouraged! :) [edit: WRONGO! read below]</p>Customer #146957 on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCustomer #146957urn:uuid:f85b86ed-e59a-f39c-75bc-c2dd78e232022013-01-18T11:28:59-07:00<p>So, it looks like it has one serial uart? (I don&rsquo;t know much about the Propeller, just curious, and I&rsquo;ve found that multiple uarts is really nice to have).</p>Circuitsoft on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCircuitsofturn:uuid:ef0d0fe6-b66f-c43a-a8e2-463ebf33caba2013-01-18T10:35:39-07:00<p>Also, is the EEPROM 512Kbit, or 512KByte?</p>Circuitsoft on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutCircuitsofturn:uuid:4ab49d94-c0c6-56ba-fc14-7a069b6c70842013-01-18T10:34:21-07:00<p>Definitely should be cheaper. I&rsquo;d recommend selling their QuickStart board, and this, for the same price ($25).</p>lexxmac on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A Breakoutlexxmacurn:uuid:f7d4d3c5-11e1-3541-a685-8a563803f0002013-01-17T22:13:16-07:00<p>$35? This should be at least 10 dollars cheaper.</p>rebelzach on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A Breakoutrebelzachurn:uuid:fa5162be-585d-7275-fe6a-e4f91119b9af2013-01-17T21:11:39-07:00<p>Yes! Yes! So happy this MCU made it to Sparkfun, So much power and flexibility in a little package.</p>TJHaines on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutTJHainesurn:uuid:aeb2da7a-0b13-ab8d-50b9-d48db7517f642013-01-17T15:56:50-07:00<p>My favorite MCU! Looks like I have one more thing to add to my Propeller collection!</p>MostThingsWeb on BOB-11525 - Propeller P8X32A BreakoutMostThingsWeburn:uuid:6d5969e1-d83d-2661-7537-9d11e2e753bf2013-01-17T13:45:10-07:00<p>This is a very welcome addition - I&rsquo;ve been curious about the Propeller boards for some time now.</p>